13.12.2011: ATLAS and CMS experiments present Higgs search status

An event showing four muons (red tracks) from a proton-proton collision in ATLAS. This event is consistent with two Z particles decaying into two muons each. Such events are produced by Standard Model processes without Higgs particles. They are also a possible signature for Higgs particle production, but many events must be analysed together in order to tell if there is a Higgs signal.

In a seminar held at CERN this week, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented the status of their searches for the Standard Model Higgs boson. Their results are based on the analysis of considerably more data than those presented at the summer conferences, sufficient to make significant progress in the search for the Higgs boson, but not enough to make any conclusive statement on the existence or non-existence of the elusive Higgs. The main conclusion is that the Standard Model Higgs boson, if it exists, is most likely to have a mass constrained to the range 116-130 GeV by the ATLAS experiment, and 115-127 GeV by CMS. Tantalising hints have been seen by both experiments in this mass region, but these are not yet strong enough to claim a discovery.

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09.12.2011: Swiss FameLab semi-finals to run at CERN

Are you 18 to 35 years old and studying or working in science in Switzerland? Are you passionate about your job and keen on exciting public imagination with a vision of 21st-century science? Then this competition is for you!

FameLab is an international science communication competition for young researchers. It aims to find the new voices of science and engineering across the world. CERN has been chosen as the venue of the regional semi-finals for Switzerland. To compete, all you have to do is prepare a 3-minute talk that is both engaging and scientifically accurate and aimed at a non-scientific audience. Impress your jury and your audience on Saturday 4 Februrary, 2012 at the Globe of Science and Innovation for your chance to win.

The first Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN has been awarded to the 28-year-old German artist, Julius von Bismarck for the quality of his ideas and his ability to make playful creative collisions between the arts and science.

The award includes prize money, a production grant and a funded residency in two parts – with an initial 2 months at CERN with a CERN scientist as inspiration partner, beginning in March 2012. The second part is a month with the Futurelab team and mentor at Ars Electronica Linz with whom the winner will develop and make new work inspired by the CERN residency.

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05.12.2011 What's new@CERN, episode 3

In this third episode: the Grid, LHC heavy ions and the latest results from the LHC experiments.

01.12.2011: Excellent heavy-ion performance for the LHC

A lead-ion event recorded by ALICE early in the 2011 lead-ion run

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has harvested a healthy crop of lead-ion collisions. In the two weeks since the beginning of the 2011 lead-ion run, some 10 times more luminosity (a measure of the number of collisions) has been delivered than in the entire 2010 lead-ion run. Analysis is in full swing for the three experiments gathering lead-ion data: ALICE, ATLAS and CMS. By studying lead-ion data, physicists probe matter as it would have been in the first instants of the Universe's life. One of the main goals is to produce tiny quantities of such matter, known as Quark Gluon Plasma, and to study how it has evolved into the kind of matter that makes up the Universe today.

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21.11.2011: Closing in on the Higgs

The combined results as presented by ATLAS and CMS

On the final day of the Hadron Collider Physics symposium, HCP2011, the ATLAS and CMS experiments presented their first combined analysis on the search for the Higgs boson. A cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics, which describes fundamental particles and their interactions, the Higgs boson is among the top priorities for the research programme at the Large Hadron Collider. The study of ATLAS and CMS includes data collected up to the end of July, and rules out the existence of a Higgs boson with mass between 141 and 476 GeV at the 95% confidence level. If the Higgs boson exists, it must have a mass between 114 and 141 GeV. The LHC experiments will be able to demonstrate its existence, or show that it does not exist, during the course of 2012.

17.11.2011: The LHC's 2011 lead-ion run gets under way

A lead-ion collision recorded by the ALICE experiment during the 2011 run

After several months of proton collisions, the LHC is embarking on a period of lead ion running, which will last until 7 December. This should provide large quantities of data, as the LHC's performance has been dramatically improved since the first lead-ion run in 2010. Lead ion collisions will be studied in detail by the ALICE experiment, which is optimised for lead ions, as well as by the ATLAS and CMS experiments. By studying these collisions, physicists probe matter as it would have been in the first instants of the Universe's existence. One of their main objectives is to make tiny quantities of such matter, known as Quark Gluon Plasma, and to study how it evolved into the matter that makes up the Universe today.

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15.11.2011: New LHC results announced in Paris

This week's Hadron Collider Physics Symposium (HCP2011) in Paris is the first opportunity for the LHC experiments, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb to present new results following the end of the LHC's 2011 proton run. For the fourth large LHC collaboration, ALICE, 2011 is just getting underway with the LHC embarking on a four-week lead-ion run.

Highlights presented at HCP2011 include the first Higgs search result that combines data from ATLAS and CMS. This analysis includes data collected up to August, and it underlines the conclusions that were presented that month: the Standard Model Higgs boson is running out of places to hide. If it exists, it will either be found or definitively ruled out during the course of next year's LHC run. Finding this long sought particle would be a triumph for the LHC, ruling it out would herald major change in the way we view our universe at the microscopic level.

Another highlight comes from LHCb, which has compared the decays of charm particles with those of their antimatter counterparts. LHCb can measure these decays to greater precision than any previous experiment.

18.10.2011: LHC reaches proton collision targets

Generated 18 October 2011 01:17 Credit : LHC

This weekend, the LHC reached its proton collision target for 2011, delivering a luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns – a unit corresponding to 350 million million (3.5 x 1014) collisions – to the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The target was reached 2 weeks before the end of proton running.

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13.10.2011: Accelerating sustainability

Managing energy efficiency and quality is a key challenge for accelerator laboratories such as CERN and other large-scale scientific facilities.

CERN is on the case. For the first time, international experts on energy and representatives from large-scale laboratories from all over Europe will meet at a 2-day workshop hosted by the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden, to discuss new ideas on energy management, identify best practices and improve collaboration.

7.10.2011: CERN. Take part.

CERN is a truly unique organisation. A genuine collaboration between countries, universities and scientists, driven not by profit margins, but by a commitment to create and share knowledge.

People here are part of immense scientific discoveries, answering some of life's most complex questions and pushing the boundaries of understanding. Experts from every field come here to share in this ambition and the nature of this collaborative, international community creates a genuine atmosphere of trust.

History is being made here – and the excitement is tangible. It is the only place in the world where you can do this work in this way.

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4.10.2011: CERN hosts ICFA seminar

An image of the new ICFA brochure. Theory and experiment combine to address the fundamental questions of particle physics. Credit: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab

Directors of the world's major particle physics laboratories, senior scientists and government science officials from around the world are gathering at CERN this week to discuss the status of global particle physics and the future of the field. They are attending the 10th triennial seminar of the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA), which has established a tradition of taking the pulse of particle physics. This year, the theme of the meeting is science setting the agenda for the facilities the field needs to advance, and the value of global coordination in planning and operating those facilities.

Particle physics has reached a decisive moment. Experiments at particle accelerators, together with observations of the cosmos, present unprecedented opportunities for discovery. At the same time, the immense scale and complexity of these extraordinary research tools put them beyond the reach of any single nation or region to build and operate. At the seminar, ICFA is presenting a new document, entitled "Beacons of Discovery", outlining the opportunities available to particle physics and the potential rewards of working together globally.

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3.10.2011: What's new@CERN, a new video magazine

Watch the new video "What's new@CERN". This monthly video magazine covers the latest news from CERN. In this first edition, LHC results presented at the summer conferences will be discussed, along with particles that seemed to be in a hurry.